Brazil's Samarco requests extension for dam disaster guarantee

Reuters
A cupboard is pictured in debris in Bento Rodrigues district, which was covered with mud after a dam owned by Vale SA and BHP Billiton Ltd burst, in Mariana, Brazil, November 10, 2015. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian miner Samarco and its shareholders Vale SA and BHP Billiton have requested to extend until Jan. 19 a deadline to pay 1.2 billion reais ($375.39 million) in guarantees related to the collapse of a tailings dam in 2015, Vale said in a statement on Monday. The payment was meant to be made to a court in Minas Gerais state by Monday. ($1 = 3.1967 reais) (Reporting by Stephen Eisenhammer; editing by Diane Craft)